Chickens - advice on keeping

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Lucyad

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My daughter has been asking for chickens for her birthday for years, and has been saving all of her birthday and Christmas money in a 'chicken fund'. (She got the idea because most of our neighbours have chickens, and she enjoys visiting them and collecting eggs).

It is her birthday in April, and I don't think I can put off getting her a coop and run any longer! Any tips / recommendations on choosing chickens and housing them, and also in their management?

Neighbours vary in terms of breeds (from fancy chickens to rescue chickens), and also in management.

We are out of the house all day during the week, so I assume that will need to be kept contained in a large run, linked to their house, but hoped that they could roam free on summer evenings and weekends when we are about. Can you train them to make them easy to round back up into their house at night?

We are just thinking of 2 of 3. We have 1 acre.
 
Look at an omlet eglu they are fantastic and easy to keep clean etc! I started with their small one for just 3 hens, now I've got a huge wall in aviary with their bigger 'cube' version and 10 hens! Definately addictive-be warned!
 
My advice is to make everything fox proof, and then fox proof it again. They all have their own little personalities and its absolutely devastating if you lose them in such a horrible way. Also always get minimum of 3 so if one expires they still have company. I loved my hens and cockerel but never ever again after they all got killed.
 
Aw I love the idea of the 'chicken fund'. She will love them! I love my chickydoodles :)

I was a complete novice 4 years ago. (no expert now but have found them relatively easy to keep) Started off with 4 at the farm (but one got taken by the fox when we were home late one night to lock them up :( ) and now have 3 - moved them back to civilisation with us (much to the amusement of the neighbours). At the farm they slept in a big shed but when we moved I bought a coop off ebay - supposedly sleeps 5 but I wouldnt like to put 5 in there. They roam the garden all day and put themselves to bed at night - currently about 5:45pm. We then lock them in. We got 2 black rock hybrids and grey sussex something. We got them at 22 weeks. I have heard there are lots of exbats needing homes too but dont know anything about them - I am sure lots of others will :)

My chickens all have names and are very friendly - they come into the kitchen to 'chat' - always eyeing out what you have to titbit them with and will follow my OH around the garden hoping for entry to the veggie garden (which they get on odd occassions). They even challenge my JRT for his supper and so have to lock poor thing in kitchen to eat his food in peace if they are out.

Say goodbye to any flowerbeds though - they get everywhere! lol
 
Chickens are great fun and all have individual characters, they can be very affectionate. My advice would be to make the area fox and RAT proof. Sadly there is no doubt that chickens attract rats. We have a 'rat proof' feeder that works on a spring system that releases grain when the chickens peck at it. Sadly the rats have learned the same technique and I've seen them standing on their back legs and feeding direct. YUK
 
I am happy to look after them for you when you're away/on hols. YO's missus has a variety of different kinds and can do chicks too if you're interested (I'm no expert, but there are some very cute ones with leg warmers...).
 
Ex-Bats ! I was given 5 last spring - looked dreadful, but they are now 5 beautiful hens ! (and big !!) More eggs than we can cope with though . . . ! They each have their own personality and soon become extreemly friendly. It's terrible to think what would have happened to them. They are such lovely girls and deserved a happy natural life. I did let them free range for a while, but they are now in a large safe run, as we acquired a new dog who is Not chook-friendly, yet!!
You will waste endless hours watching them, as they can be highly entertaining, be warned. . .:D
 
Brightbay - yes, would love to find out about young chickens that might be available on 26th April!

I do love the Eglu's but they are very expensive compared to timber coops. I would like to build a much bigger run that theirs as well - we have plenty of space. Two neighbours have built very tall enclosures that you can walk around in (others have small runs but go free range during the day - but they are in all day to monitor).

We do have foxes, so I know the run needs to be extended below ground - one neighbour had theirs infiltrated by a burrowing fox.

I will take on advice about letting her get 3, thanks.

I imagine they will be very much pets, and be let into the house (the horses spend a lot of time trashing my garden already, and come up to the front door to demand carrots). So my flowerbeds are rather beyond saving already.

What bedding do you use, and how do you muck out?

Could I leave them in the run with the house open until night-time, then lock them in and open up again first thing in the morning? Or if the run is fox proof should they be allowed to come in and out as they choose?

What accessories do they need?

Neighbours seem to love spring greens and kale, so i will plant them a big supply.
 
I love my chickens and got my first ones last year and now have loads.
Mine were roaming free but they eat all my flowers so now they are kept fenced in the paddock.

They have great personalities and are such fun to watch. I have many different breeds but the best I found for handling and temperment (if you have kiddies) are the Sablepoots. They are little bantams and they don't flap and sqwark when you pick them up. They will sit quietly on your knee for a stroke and are very pretty (small eggs though). That said if you get any at a young age you can tame them...........

Awesome pets and they provide fresh food too :)
 
If you speak to YO's OH now, she could probably have some ready by then? They probably won't lay for a good while though (too young).

OH's SIL has ex-batts - they are lovely, amazing how they can bounce back from such a horrible start in life - they lay, but smaller numbers of egss (which on balance is a good thing as otherwise you will be awash with eggs - this is the main reason we haven't got any yet).

Our neighbours all have them free range during the day and in at night, we seem to be fairly fox free (the ducks at the bottom of the road fell prey though).

They seem to like moss, and will clear it from your lawn for you ;)
 
we've had all sorts of hens over the years - from ex-bats, to rare breeds, to modern hybrids.

The most reliable layers are something like the Black Rock (a modern hybrid)
The easiest to handle are the Wyandotte Bantams (lovely, little round hens!)
the scattiest are the welsummer, ancona and leghorns (rare/traditional breeds)

as for bedding... a bit of straw, or shavings is perfect, and clear out at least weekly (more often if it's been wet - its amazing how much they bring in on their feet!).

ours put themselves away on a night at about 4pm, and earlier in the winter!

they love to be around us, and run down the drive to greet visitors, or sit on your knee when you're having tea outside, or check out the farrier's van, or garden with Mum... brilliant! They all have their own personalities, and voices and characteristics!
 
Watch out for leg mites/scaly leg. Badgers will kill chickens, so if you have badgers in your area, make your run badger proof as well as fox proof (essentially so it's hard for them to dig and get under the fence).

My favourite breeds that we had were Black Sumatra Game, Welsummer and Wyandotte bantams. I really didn't like the Rhode Island Red hen we had or the Light Sussex (although she was nicer than the RIR). Most ex-bats are RIR x LS because you can sex them as chicks by thier colour. However I did find that the ex-bats had alot nicer temperaments then the pure RIR. :)

Here's our old Sumatra cockerel showing an invading peacock the door. ;)

fighttwo.jpg
 
Will look out for Sablepoots. Wouldn't rule out ex battery if they would be friendly enough. Daughter will want to handle them, I imagine. We do have a cat and a dog, but the dog is a complete pushover and does not have any discernible hunt drive, though she might try and round them up. The cat is a monster (and will deal swiftly with any rats). I am hoping that the chickens will boss him sufficiently not to be eaten.

Moss removal would be good!

I don't think we can do free range during the day when we are not there to look after them, Brightbay -especially since, in winter, it is dark when we leave and return.
 
I love my hens, they are fantastic pets, so entertaining.

Ours have a toblerone shaped coop with run, which they were in when they were chicks (we got them at a few days old), now they are free range and have the run of the garden. They take themselves back to the coop at night and we lock them in until morning. Luckily foxs and rats have never been a problem for us as two of the dogs live outside and live alongside the hens. The hens are frequently found in the dog kennel on cold days, snuggled up in a duvet under the heat lamp while the dogs shiver outside!

We have been very lucky with ours, they are no trouble, ridiculously healthy and the only time they have caused us any worry was when they decided that roosting in the trees in the woods next door would be a good idea overnight. Cue us crashing through the woods in the dark shining torches up trees looking for them.
 
I adore my chooks, my first time having any and they are a constant delight :)

We have hybrids, crosses between a rhode island red and a maran, if I remember rightly and two new speckledy hens.

The hybrids are very friendly, always have been - the speckeldys are coming around... slowly...

You can get these ace little plastic coops - a lot more user friendly than the coops we use, IMO and they can be washed out very easily. I think they are called eggloo's or something along those lines!
We use shavings for the floor of their coop and straw for their nesting boxes.

We worm ours with a herbal wormer, every so often, treat their house for mites and treat them. Of course you have to clip their flight feathers (VERY easy and humane)

They are fed on layers pellets (if your hens will be laying already if not, you need growers pellets) and corn (because they love it) and used to have grit to harden up their eggs, but now their eggs are just hard enough :) they LOVE worms. They decimate grass. Their poo is yukky but excellent for fertiliser I believe (but too strong for flowers!)

Make sure you harvest your eggs in the morning, so they dont get a chance to get broody.

They are lovely little things, I'd recommend them for a pet if you have the space and they are really quite low maintenance. I have trained mine to come to the "kissy noise" ;) and then they stoop for me to pick them up and put them in the coop. But generally chickens, once they know their place, will go to roost at night anyway. I've never had to catch mine after 5pm :D

Here they are, RIP Gerty
chooks.jpg
 
We have had ex-batts for the past few years. We have had an egg from every hen since the day they came, practically. We, and everyone we know, are swimming in them!

We bought a wooden hen hut from e bay designed for ten hens (to initially house six) that has a floor that slides out to make cleaning out easier. If I was to buy a coop now I'd prefer a shed that I could actually get inside. Quite a few people I know have used children's playhouses for chickens and it works really well!

Our run is big - wraps around the back of six stables in an L shape, and we dug boards down into the ground to make it fox proof - touch wood we haven't lost any, but there are lots of wild geese, ducks and rabbits around which are perhaps easier to hunt? We had a lot of Xmas trees planted in the run, and quite a few of them have died this year - perhaps too acid poops around them? Last summer ours went to bed so late (sundown) that we stopped shutting the door (also the coop gets really warm - great in Jan, not so good in Aug..). Touch wood we didn't have any problems..

We bed them on straw, and found the easiest way to clean them out is to don a pair of marigolds and pick the poop out each day. They often sleep in the nesting boxes, so there is poop on the eggs if you don't pick it out in the morning..

They are lovely things. Very cheap and easy to keep, and are the only animals we own that "pay their way"!
 
Get some books first, then buy some hybrids, not purebreed hens. pol (Point Of Lay) would be ideal. An eglu is great because the bane of many chook owners lives is redmite, which does not survive very well in these plastic coops. I would advise against getting a rooster/cockerel.

Love my chooks, which are popular brown maran x and lay brown eggs.
 
Horses24-7 said:
Look at an omlet eglu they are fantastic and easy to keep clean etc! I started with their small one for just 3 hens, now I've got a huge wall in aviary with their bigger 'cube' version and 10 hens! Definately addictive-be warned!
Click to expand...

Completely agree with omlet. An eglu would be ideal for 2/3 chickens. They do supply hens too. Hybrid chickens are usually easier and good layers ie Rhode islands etc

Have a look at the omlet website. I bought the cube first and had a run built(it doesnt have to be huge or you can buy a run with it etc Cheaper to build your own. The eglu is smaller and I got one of these afterwards for keeping some youngsters in etc.

Ebay do sell second hand Omlets or eglus/cube but there isnt a lot of difference to new and they hold their prices. You can visit an omlet owner nearby before you buy.

Good luck
 
Hehe - Gail has 4 and they are brilliant! Debbie, Christina, Bonnie and Gertrude :D

They sit on and around the horses and they all follow you round if you are riding in her school :D. They are cracking wee pets and very tame!
 
yay for more chicken keepers!

we started out with 6, we now have 27 and are going to collect 6 more ex-batts tomorrow. Most of ours are pure breeds and hybrids, but i have to say getting the 3 ex-batts we currently have has been fantastically rewarding. Seeing them become 'real' chickens over a matter of weeks is brilliant. The first time they were let outside to free range they all stood looking up at the sky...fair brought a tear to my eye. They're also incredibly trusting and friendly, and take a great interest in supervising any work we do in the coops and run. :) www.bhwt.org.uk is the site for rehoming and also has good advice on keeping chickens

we had our 2 chook houses built by a local timber yard to our own specs. cost £150 each which was loads cheaper than commercially made ones for the size, so if you have someone local who could make one for you i'd recommend u looking into it.

They eat layers pellets, tho if you get ex-batts you can buy a sack of ex-batt feed at the same time as collecting usually (we got a £3 off voucher via the BHWT). Some layers pellets come with grit/shell incroporated in the pellets, otherwise you will need to provide ad-lib chook grit for them.

We built a 50m run to keep them enclosed whilst we're not around, buried the wire 1 foot deep, bending outwards below ground, then put old railway sleepers along the edges inside the run. We also have 2 rows of electric tape on the outside. Our yard is surrounded by woodland with many sightings of foxes but so far we've not lost any chooks to them, hopefully because our foxproofing works.

For bedding we use equibed and they are cleaned out daily (think chicken poo-picking :p) with the coops being thoroughly emptied, sprayed with Poultry Shield and dusted with Diatomaceous Earth every 2 weeks. The Diatomaceous earth is the most effective product we've found for killing Red Mite (bugs that live in the house and feed off the chickens blood at night) and also for keeping the birds free of lice. It can also be mixed with their feed occassionally. They need worming every 3 - 6 months too. We use Flubenvet.

I would recommend finding a specialised poultry/bird vet if you can too. None of our local 'normal' vets will treat or destroy any sick chickens so we use a poultry vet approx 20 miles away (i'm too attached to my chooks, and squeamish, to be able to despatch them myself :o )

We lost a few birds in 2010 to Infectious Bronchitis, and in the last few months have also lost some to Mareks Disease which used only to affect young birds but is now becoming more common in older birds too. We vaccinated the whole flock against IB in Spring 2011 and against Mareks in January this year.

i agree with what others have said, hens are entertaining, have distinct personalities and the eggs....YUM!
 
Please contact the BHWT http://www.bhwt.org.uk/. They do wonderful work and to see these poor caged hens come to life in natural surroundings and live a contented happy retirement is such a privilege.

I worked as a volunteer for them for a year and loved it. Sadly had to give it up as I badly upset my back moving crates of hens on re-homing day and aggravated my disc problem.

We made a fabby 30ft run for our hens and my dad made a massive brilliant coop. We had to give our hens and coop/run away as my partner had to move home. It broke my heart and we miss our girls so much but are happy in the knowledge that they had a lovely life with us and a fantastic new home with their new adopters!

One day i when the time is right i will have hens again.
 
Mogg said:
Seeing them become 'real' chickens over a matter of weeks is brilliant. The first time they were let outside to free range they all stood looking up at the sky...fair brought a tear to my eye.
Click to expand...

That almost brought a tear to my eye!!! We might have room in the coop for a couple more, I'm looking at their website as we speak :)
 
We're currently without chickens - fox got them ALL this time. However we've kept them for years and years since long before they were fashionable.. We started with 10 Black Rocks and I have to say of all of them (we tried a fair few breeds) they were the best layers and the hardiest. Some at 8 years old were still laying (fox again, otherwise probably still going!), and they do lay for most of the year. Otherwise second best were Warrens - a bit cheaper to buy.

For a hen house the plastic ones are much easier to keep clean (esp for a child) I'd suggest http://www.greenfrogdesigns.co.uk/category/poultry/ - these are much easier to dismantle for cleaning and are a bit cheaper than eglu AND made of recycled plastic.

If you're going to have a run, do extend the wire down into the ground (if permanent ) or along the ground (if not) Foxes are very cunning and will find a way in if they can!
 
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